Prior to the automation of commercial scale apparel manufacturing lines, the manufacture of garment components for use in a finished article of clothing required numerous hand-implemented processing steps. For example, the manufacture f a finished sleeve for incorporation into a tee shirt required at least three discrete manufacturing steps. First, a sleeve blank had to be cut from a larger piece of material. Next, a hem had to be sewn-finished at one end of the sleeve blank. Finally, the sleeve blank had to be folded and seamed so as to form a finished sleeve ready for sewing onto the tee shirt. Significantly, the sleeve blank had to be manually transported from each manufacturing station.
Manual implementation as above described presents a number of drawbacks. For example, the output of the assembly line is lowered, because the individual machines are often capable of greater output than possible via strict human implementation. Moreover, due to the rapid pace of production, a sleeve blank will be occasionally misaligned by the operator, resulting in a defective garment and waste.
For these and other readily apparent considerations, it is therefore advantageous to automate commercial-scale assembly lines producing apparel components. Prior attempts include the 2800 HSLT Hemmer/Seamer produced by Union Special Corporation of Chicago Ill., assignee herein. Although the device serves to produce a finished tee shirt sleeve, the machine only produces a seam configuration commonly-known as the straight-curved seam. Although sufficing for some garment applications, for aesthetic and fashion reasons, garment manufacturers increasingly require that sleeves be produced with the commonly-known pure straight/angled seam. Moreover, the degree to which the straight seam is angled varies according to the specific garment contemplated.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for automating the transport of a component of wearing apparel from one processing station to another processing station.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus to automate the transport of a workpiece, for example, a shirt sleeve, from a hemming station to or through a seaming station so as to enable the processing of a wide range of sizes of workpieces
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus to automate the transport of a workpiece from a hemming station to or through a seaming station so that a pure straight/angled seam may be sewn onto the workpiece.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus to automate the transport of a workpiece from a hemming station to or through a seaming station so that the device is convertible from producing a pure straight/angled seam to producing a straight-curved seam.
The foregoing specific objects and advantages of the invention are illustrative of those which can be achieved by the present invention and are not intended to be exhaustive or limiting of the possible advantages which can be realized. The invention is not limited to the transport of a workpiece to a seaming station for a seaming operation, so that the principles conveyed herein are applicable to performing numerous other sewing or stitching operations upon a workpiece. Thus, these and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description herein or can be learned from practicing the invention, both as embodied herein or as modified in view of any variations which may be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the present invention resides in the novel parts, constructions, arrangements, combinations and improvements herein shown and described.